Sharon Osbourne says she visits her late husband Ozzy Osbourne’s grave every day, 15 months after the Black Sabbath frontman died aged 76.
Speaking about her grief, Sharon said she was still learning to live without the rock legend, who died at their home in Buckinghamshire after years of health problems. “You’ve lost the love of your life, so you don’t just wake up and go, ‘I’m fine now. I’m cured’,” she said.
“You never get over it. But you learn to live with it, and that’s what I’m trying to do. So you either sit in a room and don’t come out, or you accept it, befriend it, and that’s it.”
Ozzy died after suffering a heart attack shortly after waking up early for his usual morning workout. Sharon said she had been asleep when someone rushed into her room and told her to come downstairs.
The couple had spoken during the night. Ozzy had asked her to kiss him twice before asking her to hold him tightly. “Hold me, hold me tight,” he told her, according to Sharon. And then the next thing I know, it’s early in the morning, and someone comes rushing into the room saying, ‘Come down now, I ran down, and that was it.”
Ozzy’s death came less than three weeks after he performed at a farewell concert in Birmingham, where he reunited with Black Sabbath. Sharon recalled that he had been delighted by the response to the show and spent time reading reviews online.“He was just so, so happy. He was online, going through the reviews and saying, ‘There’s something terribly wrong’, and I’m like, ‘Why?’
“He goes, ‘I didn’t get slagged by anybody. Why are people being nice to me?’ And I’m like, ‘Because they like you’.”
Thousands of fans lined the streets of Birmingham for Ozzy’s funeral, laying flowers and singing Black Sabbath songs as his body was transported through the city.
Sharon said the public display of affection brought comfort to the family, although she believed Ozzy would have been surprised by the response. “He’d have been like, ‘What’s the matter with you guys? Go home!.”
The family collected, sorted and photographed the cards and messages sent by fans. The flowers were composted for the family garden, where Ozzy is buried.
Sharon said she did not want her husband buried in a public cemetery because she wanted him to have peace.
“There was no way I could put Ozzy in a public graveyard. I’ve seen what happens to other people in the public eye. There’s no peace because people want to come and they want to pay their respects. That’s an ongoing thing, and I wanted Ozzy to rest and just be.”
Asked whether she visited his grave often, Sharon replied: “Of course, every day. I can see him from my window.”
She said she still talks to him regularly but declined to reveal what they discuss.
Ozzy and Sharon met in 1970 and married in 1982. Their relationship lasted more than five decades, despite periods of turmoil, including Ozzy’s 1989 arrest for attempting to murder Sharon. She later dropped the charges. The couple also briefly split in 2016 amid reports of infidelity.
Sharon described their relationship as unusual because of its extreme highs and lows, but said Ozzy knew how much he was loved.
A new documentary, Back To The Beginning, captures Ozzy’s final concert at Birmingham’s Villa Park, where he reunited with Black Sabbath and performed alongside other major music stars.
The film features more than 25 songs from the concert, including Ozzy’s solo set and Black Sabbath’s full performance.
Metallica frontman James Hetfield spoke about the band’s influence, saying: “If there was no Sabbath, there’s no Metallica. It’s as simple as that.”
Singer Yungblud, whose performance of “Changes” was one of the concert’s emotional moments, said Ozzy had inspired him as a child who struggled to fit in. “The fact he was celebrated for his madness and his individuality gave me hope,” he said.
Sharon said the concert was Ozzy’s final wish, but his deteriorating health nearly prevented him from performing.
Six months before the show, he fell and fractured his vertebrae. During his recovery, he suffered pneumonia three times, developed sepsis after back surgery and came close to dying.
Two weeks before the concert, doctors advised him to cancel because of concerns about his heart.
“They came to see us at the house and they said, ‘You can’t do this. We’re advising you not to do this. Your heart’s too weak’,” Sharon recalled.
Despite the warning, Ozzy was determined to perform. He sang while seated on a throne, with Sharon saying his eyes and face showed how much the concert meant to him.
She recalled that his health problems included a lung condition, a heart condition, severe spinal pain, blood clots and Parkinson’s disease. “Some days just to even talk was an effort, let alone sing. And I don’t know how he did it, but he did it.”
The performance left Ozzy eager to return to touring. Sharon said he came off stage wanting to continue, convinced he could perform while seated.
“He was raring to go,” she said. “He was like, ‘I can do this, and the fans don’t mind if I’m sat down’.”
Although Ozzy died weeks later, Sharon said the concert gave him a joyful final stretch of life.
“To quote one of his songs, he was flying high again. He was just floating for those last 17 days. It was great. It was joyous.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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